Don't Stand So Close To Me
by LoveIsATemple
Summary: Caroline and Mr. Mikaelson - her government class's very own British T.A. - don't get along at all. At least, that's what she's been telling herself for the past six months. (AU/AH)
1. Part One

**A/N:** Second fic for Klaroline AU Week: Average Joes! This is a two-parter, but the second bit will be probably half the size of this monster. And can we just appreciate how perfect it is that The Police have a song that perfectly goes with the plot of this story? Because I think it's great. Listen to the song if you get the chance.

Thank you to everyone who spends their time reading this! I have been writing it for months, and when AU week was announced, I finally got the extra push to finish it. Expect the second part to also be released by the end of the month. (I'm busy, updating isn't really easy at the moment!)

I hope you guys like it, and if you want to review, that would be great, but don't feel pressured to.

 **I OWN NOTHING!**

Alrighty! Enjoy.

* * *

 _"Wet bus stop, s_ _he's waiting_

 _His car is warm and dry"_

* * *

 **Part One**

"But I'm trying so hard, Mr. Tanner. It's just with all of my AP classes, plus cheerleading, plus my job at the animal shelter, all added together with my _many_ extracurriculars, I had almost no time to get this project done." Caroline Forbes, student extraordinaire, finished with her rant, leaned back on her heels and panted.

"Miss Forbes, your project wasn't bad," her government teacher, the aforementioned Mr. Tanner, assured her, moving out from behind his desk. "Mikaelson," he said sternly as Caroline followed him around the desks in the room, "start marking those tests."

"Yes, Sir."

Caroline was distracted momentarily when the T.A. rudely bumped into her on his way to Mr. Tanner's desk, but quickly started up her argument again, "I got a B!" she exclaimed, watching Mr. Tanner swipe down the desks with his handy dandy sanitary wipes. He clearly had some form of OCD, as this was a ritual at the end of every class.

"Plus," Mr. Tanner corrected. "B Plus."

"Ugh!" she squealed, ignoring the T.A.'s disrespectful snicker. "So not the point, Mr. Tanner. I need to get an A in this class, and my last two projects have gotten Bs!"

"Plusses," Tanner said again, much to the girl's annoyance.

"Seriously, Mr. Tanner. I'm trying to be valedictorian. I need to be able to stay in the honours program, and quarterlies are coming out soon! If I get _one_ B on my report card, I'm out of the running and _my_ spot goes to freaking Damon Salvatore. I can't let that happen!"

Mr. Tanner continued polishing the desks very carefully, face moulded in concentration. Caroline was running out of time. She had cheerleading practice in ten minutes and it took a full six to get from the senior wing to the field where they trained. And she was the captain, so practice couldn't start without her.

Finally, Tanner sighed. "What do you want me to do about this, Caroline?"

Instantly cheerful again—she wasn't head cheerleader for no reason—Caroline clapped her hands together excitedly. It was a good day. Tyler Lockwood couldn't keep his gorgeous brown eyes off of her all of AP Math, Damon got dumped by his girlfriend of nearly four years, and Mr. Tanner was bending to her very persuasive will. She could totally be a lawyer.

"Extra credit," she said simply. Dangerously. Fingers tapping at the desk he'd just cleaned. "Make those Bs disappear."

Tanner seemed to think for a moment. He threw the wipes away after going over the one Caroline had touched once more and rubbed a hand over his wrinkled, tired forehead.

"Okay," he acquiesced, causing Caroline's insides to jump with exhilaration. "Help Mr. Mikaelson prepare for his first solo lecture."

Caroline's eyes bugged. That feeling of happiness quickly exited her body. Dread took its place. "What?" she asked. And there must've been an echo, because she heard her question again before her mouth had even closed. Only it was deeper and somehow sounded even more shocked.

"Yes," Mr. Tanner said, looking rather pleased with himself. Caroline hated that smug look of his. "You can meet up after classes every Friday for the next month, sit in the Quad, and work on a lecture together."

"But, Sir"—the T.A. stuttered.

—"Ah, ah." Tanner held up his hand to silence the recent University of Virginia graduate, "Miss Forbes here is the best student I have ever had in my twenty five years of teaching AP Government. I'm not saying she write the lecture for you, nor saying she speak in front of the class with you, but she is a talented organiser and I think she could really help you put your thoughts together."

Caroline couldn't help the way Tanner's praises made her heart sing with pride, but then she remembered why he was saying those things in the first place and her heart abruptly stopped singing, as if the old government teacher had snuffed its song.

"Isn't it illegal or something to put T.A.s and students of the opposite sex together outside of school? Alone?" she asked, half-hoping she was right.

"Caroline," Tanner chided, waring a loose smile, "it's definitely not illegal, plus you'll be on school grounds. This will be good for both of you. Mr. Mikaelson has trouble articulating his thoughts, you have trouble reining yours in."

Both she and the T.A. started saying something at the same time, their sentences jumbling together into one large, whiney noise, but Tanner put his hand up again. That hand must have had magical powers, because the two of them grew silent immediately.

"It's decided. You want an A," he said, looking at Caroline. He turned to the T.A. who had apparently abandoned the recently completed exams on Tanner's desk and was now standing behind her. "You need help with your people skills. No more arguments, my word is final."

In all of her years as a student, Caroline Forbes had gotten her way. She was very good with her words and could make teachers do nearly anything she wanted. It helped, of course, that she practically ran the school. Whenever she didn't like the group she had been paired with, she would simply open her mouth and the teacher would snap their fingers and there would be a change. If she wasn't happy with the book they were reading for English, she could always convince the teacher to move on to something a little more challenging.

And if she got a B, which had happened only four times in her whole high school academic career, she always, _always_ , could get the teacher to give her some extra credit that would turn that horrid B into a shiny, acceptable A.

Mr. Tanner surely hated her.

"Fine," Caroline yielded. She turned to the T.A. who was still busy glaring at Tanner. He took his eyes off of the ancient history teacher and moved his focus to her. "We'll start on Friday. Meet me outside in the Quad at 4:30 p.m. and be sure to bring all of your notes. Don't be late." She nearly poked his chest to make sure her point had been made, but realised touching a T.A. probably _was_ illegal, even if it was meant to be intimidating and not sexual.

The T.A. stood to his full height, which still made him only a few inches taller than her (and she wasn't even wearing heels), and frowned. Clearly he was not used to being bossed around by women. Or maybe it was his dislike of cheerleaders. She hadn't missed his quiet scoff while she had rattled off all of her commitments earlier.

His curly hair flopped into his eyes, forcing him to break their intense eye contact so he could push the rusty things back. When it was haphazardly atop his head he met her eyes once again. "Okay then. Friday. 4:30."

"Good."

Caroline didn't waste another moment. She turned on her heel and got out of the classroom as fast as she could without taking off in a sprint. Hopefully the other cheerleaders would understand her tardiness. Lord knew she would be beating herself up enough without their help.

 **—**

Practice was over. It had started raining midway through, meaning they got extra muddy. Coach Zhu eventually blew her whistle and forced them to go inside thirty minutes before the official end of practice. As always, Caroline was one of the last girls in the locker room (she couldn't help her love of long, scalding hot showers), along with Bonnie Bennett who had to spend a lot of time straightening her hair before she felt she looked good enough to go outside. And back into the rain.

As Caroline worked her fingers through her stringy blond hair, she listened to Bonnie go on and on about how lucky she was.

"I mean, you get to work with Mr. Mikaelson. Alone. For goodness knows how long," the mocha-skinned cheerleader informed her, as if she didn't already know exactly what her punishment for getting two Bs in Tanner's class was. "I'm telling you, Care, every girl in this school would kill you for that opportunity."

Applying conditioner to her already perfectly soft hair, Caroline sighed in annoyance. All the girls at Mystic Falls High (the tiny high school in their tiny town in tiny Virginia) swooned over Tanner's T.A. He was handsome, she supposed. Blue-eyed. Chiselled. Scruffy, but in a clean way. Blond—blech. She only went for the darker-haired kind of man.

But he was English, and that was what really had the girls going crazy. Because to them, England was an _exotic land_. God, they worshiped him like he had come down from outer space. Maybe he had, for all she knew. He did have somewhat alien-like features. Like that weird, ape forehead. When he scowled he looked like a male gorilla about to attack. She supposed the other girls found that sexy, but she just found it weird.

Caroline, since the beginning of her senior year six months ago, had not gotten along with the T.A. He wasn't mean or anything, but he sure as hell didn't like her. And he wasn't afraid to show it. So, she went ahead and didn't like him back.

He was smart, she had to admit. Just as he probably had to admit to himself that she too was smart. When she got tests back graded by him, there was always an extra big check next to her A Plus. Tanner never did that.

"I don't get why he couldn't have just given me a worksheet to fill out. Or sent me to one of the thousands of Civil War battle grounds in Virginia. What does working with the T.A. give me?" she asked, her annoyance growing. She could complain to the principle about the "assignment," but had a feeling he wouldn't see it as a problem.

Bonnie laughed. "It gives you an opportunity to spend a lot of time with an incredibly attractive guy."

"Gross, Bon. He's not _incredibly attractive_."

"Blasphemy!" Bonnie called, and Caroline found herself giggling as she washed the conditioner out of her hair. "He really is good looking. I don't know why you can't see it."

Stepping out of the shower, Caroline wrapped a towel around her body and went to her locker. "He's not my type," she argued. Opening her locker, she grabbed her clothes. "Plus, he's old."

"He's twenty-four! How is that _old_?" Bonnie asked, disbelief surrounding her words. "Aren't we high school seniors supposed to be falling head over heels in love with guys that age? Isn't that when dopey males finally start to mature?"

Caroline shook her head, snapping her bra in place and pulling her The Who shirt over her head. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to fall head over heels for this particular twenty-four-year-old. Besides," she said, dragging her shorts up her legs, "I've got my eye on someone a little younger."

Making her way to the sinks where Bonnie was still straightening her hair with her makeup bag in hand, Caroline went to the other mirror and began her beauty routine.

"That sounds kind of rape-y, Care," Bonnie informed, raising her perfect eyebrow in Caroline's direction.

Caroline, busy lining her eyelids, stared straight ahead at her reflection. "Shut up. I'm talking about Tyler. He's the same age as me."

Bonnie's straightener fell to the ground. "Shit," she breathed, bending to pick it back up.

"You okay?" Caroline checked.

"Totally. I just came to this really wonderful conclusion."

Caroline abandoned her reflection and stared at Bonnie. "What conclusion?"

Shrugging, Bonnie went back to her hair. "Well, you're eighteen."

"I am . . ." Caroline said slowly. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Bonnie tapped her foot impatiently. "You're also graduating in two-and-a-half months."

Caroline turned to the side and put on her Don't-Bullshit-Me mask. Bonnie caught her eye and let out a dramatic sigh.

"You could totally have an affair with Mr. Mikaelson for the rest of the term! How _hot_ would that be?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Caroline pushed all of the dirty thoughts and pictures that appeared in her head in response to Bonnie's disgusting suggestion out of her mind. What the hell was that girl talking about?

Have an affair with a T.A.? Not only would that get him fired (she didn't hate him _that_ much), but she would most definitely lose her spot as valedictorian. And probably her scholarship to UVA.

Not to mention, she felt absolutely no sexual attraction to the T.A. whatsoever. And she was pretty sure that went both ways, considering she was his student. Kind of.

"Why would you even propose a thing like that, Bonnie? Jeremy isn't keeping you satisfied, so you have to start creating weird fantasies? Involving other people, of all things?"

Bonnie frowned her adorable frown. "Of course Jere's keeping me satisfied. I'm just thinking, you've got the perfect opportunity to have a sordid affair with an authority figure. He would totally give you A Plusses on all of your assignments if he was sleeping with you. Also, it would be super duper hot."

"You said that already," Caroline commented disapprovingly. "I hate him, Bon. I'm not gonna sleep with him just to get good grades, which I get without any sexual favours anyway. And why the hell would he want to sleep with me? I know it sounds all cool in the books to sleep with your teacher, but in reality it's a really strange, illegal thing to do."

Bonnie unplugged her straightener and tucked her bangs behind her ear. Nobody was quite used to the dramatic bob she'd given herself after coming back from Christmas break, least of all Caroline. She coiled the wire around the base. "Look," she said, sounding oddly sincere, "just think about it. He's only six years older you. He's really good looking, no matter what you say. You're eighteen, graduating in less than three months. And I assure you, it will be the sexiest thing you ever do."

Bonnie finished packing her things and left Caroline to finish her makeup in solitude. Unfortunately, the blond could not find the inspiration to complete her look. Bonnie's words were swimming around in her brain like annoying, big, ugly fish.

The cheerleader shook her head, trying to force the thoughts away. Sleeping with her teacher was the _stupidest_ thing she could think of. Right up there with doing drugs and getting pregnant before she was in a committed relationship, the latter of which could occur should she decide to follow Bonnie's advice.

And Bonnie seemed to miss one of her main arguments: She disliked Tanner's T.A. A lot.

 **—**

"Argh!" Caroline howled, slamming the hood of her car shut. "Why won't you work?"

After finally getting 'round to finishing her makeup, Caroline had come outside into the rain only to find that her car had stopped working. It wasn't new by any means. Caroline's mother was only the town's sheriff, and her father died three years ago with no money to his name. When she had turned sixteen and gotten her license, she wasn't expecting her mom to get her a car. But her mother was always doing the unexpected.

It was a 1996 Honda Civic, white. It had holes in the seats and the A.C. didn't work, but it was her baby.

Caroline smacked the bonnet with a closed fist, tears welling in her eyes. Despite the humidity that had been making its home in Mystic Falls the past couple of weeks, toady's rainstorm seemed to have taken it all away. She was freezing. Soaked to the bones. And she was crying.

Oh, and she had no ride home. Her mother was working, Bonnie was with Jeremy, and she didn't want to call Matt after the fight they had last week about Tyler Lockwood.

Caroline leaned against her door and bowed her head in defeat. Looked like she was walking home.

"Car trouble?"

Whipping her head up so fast she saw stars, Caroline squinted in the rain to see who had spoken. Though she didn't exactly need to squint very much—or at all—considering there was only one English person in the whole of Mystic Falls.

Tanner's T.A. held an umbrella in one hand and his brown leather briefcase in the other. His tie was hanging loose around his neck, and he'd rolled up the sleeves of his blue Oxford shirt.

"No, I just really love the rain," Caroline said sarcastically, crossing her arms in annoyance. Why did _he_ have to be the one to find her? Why couldn't it have been Tyler?

The T.A. smirked, which only managed to piss her off even more. Of course he found joy in her discomfort.

He nodded his head in the direction of the teacher's parking lot. "Need a ride?"

 _That_ sounded illegal. "Are you allowed to ask me that?" Caroline asked dryly.

Elizabeth Forbes, Caroline's mother and Mystic Fall's handy dandy sheriff, had always said Caroline was stubborn. Apparently it was a trait handed down from her father—not that her mother was exactly amenable. This factoid caused Caroline's insides to churn, because as much as she wished she was nothing like her alcoholic, dead father, she loved being stubborn. Refusing to give in and be who people wanted her to be was like a drug.

Yes, she was cold. Cold to the point that her teeth had started to chatter. And yes, it was getting late and she had to go home and finish a substantial amount of AP homework. But she would sooner contract pneumonia before getting into a car with Tanner's T.A.

The T.A. looked around the deserted parking lot. Rain hit his umbrella in quick pellets, rolling off of the plastic top to create a wall of water all around him. He looked so dry behind his curtain of rain.

"I'm not sure, actually," he said in response to her question. "But you really look uncomfortable, and I think it would be rude of me not to offer."

 _Gag_.

Were all English people this considerate, even when they clearly disliked someone?

"I think I'm gonna walk," Caroline said, pushing herself off of her car. She reached down and picked up her sopping wet backpack.

Tanner's T.A. took a few steps in her direction. "I'd feel better if I just took you home."

Caroline flung the bag over her shoulder and shot him her most menacing glare. "Do you even know how to drive over here?" she asked stomping away from him. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed he had started following her, his long legs catching up to her quicker than she liked. "Why are you chasing me?"

"I'm not chasing you," T.A. sighed, a slight exasperation in his words. "I'm trying to convince you to let me take you home. So you don't die out here in the rain."

Caroline stopped walking and turned around. "A little water never hurt anybody."

The T.A. didn't respond for a second. Then he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, opening them a moment later. Caroline, against her will, noticed they weren't entirely blue. There were flecks of a few other colours in there too. Greens and a few greys mixed together with the oceanic blue.

"Please let me take you home. We're gonna have to start getting along soon, as Will—sorry, as Mr. Tanner has forced you to help me with my lecture."

The T.A. made a fair point, annoyingly enough. He leaned down as she contemplated his proposal, covering her head with half of his umbrella.

Damn, it felt good to be out of the rain.

"Ugh," she whined, stomping her foot. "Fine. Lead the way."

Caroline allowed T.A. to guide her to his car (a much newer version of the Civic, perhaps even the _newest_ version), ignoring the burning irritation roiling around in her belly. She rarely gave in, but she supposed her hair would thank her for this one.

Like the apparent English gentleman that he was, T.A. held the umbrella over her head as he opened the passenger door for her. She climbed in, uttering a disgruntled thank you, and watched him run to the other side of the car. He held the umbrella open as he sat down next to her, shaking it out briefly before closing it and shoving it in the back seat.

T.A. started the car. A blast of cold air hit Caroline square in the face.

"God, what the hell?" Caroline reached out and shut the vent nearest her and turned her neck to glare at the T.A.

"Sorry," he said hissed his teeth, turning some fancy dials until the air turned off. "It was rather hot this morning."

She supposed he thought of her as a brat. Others did. But really, she was just a perfectionist. People often took that to mean she was a snobby bitch, which hampered her attempts to make friends, and further still made it difficult to keep the few friends she managed to snag. Tanner's T.A. obviously wasn't her biggest fan. None of the teachers were, really. Not even Mr. Tanner, who had just a couple of hours ago praised her for being his best student. Ever.

Some days it hurt. Back when Jr. High began, and people started seeing Caroline for the anal retentive that she was, lots of her old friends ditched her. That definitely left a sort of cavern in her soul. After their lame excuses wore her down (we just don't have time for friends anymore, Caroline. we have none of the same classes. you're too smart for us. you're an asshole, why would I still want to be friends with you?) Caroline decided that making friends wasn't a top priority anymore. School was. Cheerleading was. Being the best at everything she tried was.

Since the end of seventh grade, she didn't really care what other people thought. Most of the time. Occasionally she would see her name scribbled on a bathroom stall. Sometimes a rumour would be floating around the school for a few days before another more interesting one got started. Those days were the worst, because she was still just a little girl. Words still affected her.

Crying wasn't her concern. She could deal with crying. It was that emptiness following her after those moments that terrified her the most. That feeling of not just unhappiness, but of hopelessness.

"Are you warm now?" the T.A. checked, examining her from head to toe.

Caroline listened to the gentle whoosh of the heating and nodded her head.

"Excellent. Now, don't be shocked, but I know where you live," he informed her. The T.A. put the car in reverse, his arm flinging over the back of Caroline's seat. He clearly did know how to drive in America.

"Why do you know where I live?" Caroline asked, smoothing her soaking shorts. She refused to look at him.

T.A. didn't answer her very reasonable question until they were out of the school's parking lot. He took his arm away from her seat. "Your mother invited me for tea when I first moved here," he explained.

Caroline rolled her eyes and sat back against the leather seat. Her mother did like to invite young, single guys to their house when they first moved to Mystic Falls. It was almost a tradition. A weird, cringeworthy tradition.

Now that the air conditioning had been turned off, Caroline could hear a soft melody radiating through the car.

Despite her best efforts not to, music always came first and she found herself asking, "Who is this?"

The T.A. looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he turned the car. "The Doors."

Caroline shuffled in her seat, getting comfortable (or, as comfortable as she could get in her state) in order to better experience the music. She absently tapped her foot to the steady beat. "I like them."

"You've never heard of them?"

Shooting T.A. a glare, Caroline straightened herself. "No. Why?"

"You've got a Who shirt on. I thought you might have heard of The Doors as well." He shrugged, lips curling into a half-smile that seemed to show up a lot when she was around him. "Or did you just like the design?"

"I listen to The Who," Caroline insisted, staring down at the blue t-shirt that clung to her stomach. "A lot."

"Hmm." T.A. stroked his stubble. They were nearing her home, but she had a feeling this was the beginning of some sort of argument about music. She readied herself for his next question. "Favourite song?"

Caroline was slightly disappointed. "Favourite song? You're doubting my love of The Who, and you ask me for my favourite song?"

"What should I ask you, then?"

"Well, you're trying to verify if I listen to The Who. I could list any of their most famous songs, or even one of their most obscure songs, and you'd have to take it. Ask me something more interesting," Caroline ordered, an odd giddiness running through her.

"Okay," T.A. conceded, taking no time to come up with his next question. "Keith Moon, rest his soul, was known for his love of alcohol and horse tranquillisers. What was the date that he famously passed out during a performance?"

Oh, that was a good one. Luckily, Caroline really did love The Who. She'd seen that clip (that very fuzzy clip) many times.

"November 20th, 1973. It was the start of the American leg of their _Quadrophenia_ tour. Moon was nervous, so, of course, he ingested a mixture of tranquillisers and brandy," Caroline said proudly, sticking her chin in the air.

T.A. lifted his hands off the wheel for a moment to give her a faint, teasing round of applause. "You know your Who trivia," he commended as he pulled up to her home, and for some reason the compliment turned Caroline's skin pink.

The rain had petered off, she noticed in her efforts to not look at the T.A. Now only a slow drizzle fell from the sky.

Caroline bent down and grabbed her backpack. She gripped the door handle. "Thanks for the ride," she said hesitantly. "I'll definitely have to look up The Doors."

"Anytime, Caroline," T.A. said. Then—"No, I don't mean 'anytime.' I'm sure I'm not supposed to be driving students home. This was definitely a one off."

Caroline nodded, frowning. "Definitely. I'll get Matt to look at my car tomorrow." She opened the door and started getting out. "See you on Friday."

"See you on Friday," T.A. resounded, flashing another one of those half-smiles that she was sure meant he was secretly laughing at her.

Caroline shut the door. She stood on the curb until T.A. drove off, running inside once his car was out of sight. Stripping off her wet clothes (why the hell had he allowed her inside his clean car?), Caroline laid on her bed, naked, and grabbed her laptop, putting "The Doors" in the search bar.

As she listened to "People Are Strange" she admitted to herself that maybe Tanner's T.A. wasn't so bad. But just because he had good taste in music did not mean that she was suddenly going to like him.

* * *

Tanner's T.A. was smart. Caroline knew this. Tanner wouldn't let just anybody be his T.A. Still, his knowledge of government surprised her a little. Maybe because he had yet to lecture by himself. Or maybe it was because she refused to see any good in him, aside from his musical preferences.

She found that in a school setting they quickly got back to their old bickering ways. Two hours into the session and it was as if Wednesday's rain fiasco had never happened.

"You've got too much on Ghandi," criticised Caroline, flipping through his notes again. They were sitting in the Quad at a wooden picnic table, books and notepads and pens and pencils strewn on the tabletop.

T.A. scoffed and grabbed his really, really big notebook away from her. A few pieces of paper fell to the ground, but neither bothered to pick them up. "You can't have too much on Ghandi."

Caroline sighed, picking at her nails. It was a freakishly hot day and they'd already been in each other's company for too long. She was about ready to cut his tongue out so he would be forced to stop talking. "You can when you're teaching an _American_ Government class."

"He's vital to the understanding of civil disobedience!"

"I. Know," Caroline stressed, shifting closer to the T.A. and taking back his notebook. "But you go into too much detail about the Indian Independence Movement. You'll confuse people."

T.A. made a strange noise from the back of his throat. Something that sounded like a cross between a groan and a cough.

"I thought you were all supposed to be brilliant. This is an AP class after all."

"No, that's only me. Everyone else is mediocre."

T.A. frowned and jotted down a few notes. "You're very modest. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Caroline let out a weak gasp, hand covering her mouth. "You really think I'm modest? Oh, that's all I ever wanted to be!" she said, swaying from side to side.

"Ha. Ha," T.A. bit, still writing.

"Are you taking out Ghandi?" Caroline asked after a few minutes of hearing nothing but his pen scratching the notebook. She looked over his shoulder and saw him scribbling away.

T.A. shrugged, knocking her out of the way. He made a sour face, which made Caroline smile a little. "Not all of him."

Caroline laughed, to which T.A. responded by dropping his pen and looking straight at her, eyebrows raised as if he had never heard such a sound in his life.

"What?" she asked harshly, correcting her posture. She didn't like the whole _intense eye contact_ thing they had going on.

T.A. blinked a few times and turned back to his book. "Nothing."

Moving away, Caroline studied T.A.'s profile. He had horrid posture, but being hunched over a notebook seemed to suit him. And he wrote very fast, which wouldn't be that amazing on its own, but Caroline could actually comprehend his writing. Sometimes she couldn't even comprehend what _she_ wrote.

"Have you been listening to The Doors?" T.A. asked out of the blue, making Caroline jump out of her study of him.

"Hm?" Caroline shook her head vigorously, pretending a bug had flown into her face. She swooshed her hand around for added effect.

 _God, I'm pathetic. I was totally checking him out. Damn it, Bonnie!_

Slowly, a light red flush crept up Caroline's skin. Starting from her toes and going all the way to her hairline. Mystic Fall's heat index was thankfully very high that day, so she could always blame the sticky spring air on her rosy appearance.

She hated the T.A. Very much. Why was she suddenly checking him out like some brainless moron?

"The Doors," T.A. said again, slower this time. "Have you been listening to them?"

"Oh, right." Caroline shook her head again. "I have, yeah. They're really good."

Caroline watched as the T.A. closed his books and gathered all of his writing utensils, placing them all in his briefcase. Guess that meant the session was over. Which definitely did not disappoint her. Not even a tiny bit.

Perhaps it really was just his musical taste that had her intrigued. The two of them had only ever been around each other in a school setting. Both were extremely set in their opinions about the different forms of government and would often butt heads during class time. They'd had an all-out shouting match the first day of school. Caroline made snap judgements about people, and Mr. T.A. very quickly became her number one enemy on the Mystic Falls High staff.

But maybe he wasn't all that bad.

"Good. I'm glad to have broadened your musical horizon." T.A. stood up, casting a shadow across her. "Well, I think that's all we'll need to do. Thanks for the help," he said carelessly, starting to walk away.

Nope. He was still an ass.

Caroline shot to her feet and ran in front of him, making him stop in his tracks. "What do you mean that's all?"

T.A. gave her a laugh that sounded very much like it _pitied_ her. "I don't really need your help, Miss Forbes. I'm sure Tanner only meant for us to do one session as a punishment to us both. I can finish my lecture on my own."

"Well, listen here, _Mr_. _T.A_.," Caroline emphasised, scowling. She rose up on to her tippy-toes. "This is supposed to be _my_ extra credit, for _my_ A. Believe me, I would've been happier if he'd sent me to D.C. to be the freaking president for a day, but that's not what happened. I'm stuck with you for the next three Fridays. Don't test me, T.A. I'm not all that fun to play around with."

Caroline sucked in a much needed breath and fell back on to the soles of her feet. Tanner's T.A. looked fairly stricken, which brought a satisfied smirk to her face. She definitely should have signed up for the debate team freshman year. They could have used her argument skills.

"I have a name," T.A. said after a long, stretched out silence. He was breathing heavily, plainly annoyed with her.

"I do too . . ." Caroline said, confused, her voice trailing. This was not the response she expected.

"Mr. Mikaelson. You'll do well to remember it, Miss Forbes. I may not be your teacher, but I am your superior. I have the power to punish you. Call me T.A. one more time and I'll tell Tanner to drop this extra credit assignment and give you a B," T.A.—no, _Mr. Mikaelson_ —threatened, causing Caroline's jaw to drop in disbelief. "Don't test me, Miss Forbes," he added, using her own words against her.

Caroline backed away a few feet. Her lungs hurt, as if the wind had been knocked out of her. T.A.'s—wait, freaking _Mr_. _Mikealson's_ —words definitely hit her like a punch to the gut, so she wasn't entirely surprised that she could no longer breathe.

Tears stung her eyes. Hot, angry tears. Nobody had ever talked to her like that. Could he really convince Mr. Tanner to give up on her and hand her a B? If he did, her dreams were essentially dead. Damon would be valedictorian and she'd have to live with that for the rest of her life.

She was being dramatic. She knew that much. But she couldn't help it. Since the beginning of her academic career, all the way back in kindergarten, Caroline knew she wanted to be valedictorian. All of her classes and all of her extracurriculars were chosen with that goal in mind. T—Mr. Mikaelson couldn't take that from her.

Caroline took another step away from Mr. Mikaelson, watching as a softness take over his features.

"I—Caroline . . ." he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry. That got a little out of hand," he admitted. Caroline stood still, waiting for him to continue. "Mr. Tanner's been excellent to me this year, but I think he doesn't see me as an equal just yet. I think he sees me as his secretary, to be perfectly honest. When he said that you would help me outline my lecture, I couldn't help but feel a little miffed."

"Miffed?" Caroline asked, interrupting his apology.

"Right, you're American," he reminded himself, giving her a small, sheepish sort of smile that melted away the hardness in his face. He looked his age for the first time since she'd met him. "Annoyed. I felt annoyed that he assigned a student to help me. I shouldn't have taken my _annoyance_ out on you, though. That was very unfair."

"No, no, you're right." Caroline scuffed the ground with her sneaker, surprised by her own admission of wrongdoing and not able to look Mikaelson in the eye for fear of extra embarrassment. "I'm used to getting what I want. Plus, I really badly want that A."

Her eyes abandoned the pretty grass and met Mr. Mikaelson's. He opened his mouth as if to say something else—maybe to grovel a little more—but closed it when someone called her name.

"Caroline!"

The girl in question turned her body in the direction of the noise. Tyler Lockwood strolled toward them, waving his hand at her.

Caroline refused to look disappointed that Tyler was there. There was no call for the surge of anger toward the most attractive boy in their class. Besides, without him she would have no ride home. Matt, who was very good at forgiving her and had accepted her apology when she'd phoned him for help, was still working on her car.

"Hi, Tyler. I'll be there in a second," she shouted. "So," she murmured to the T.A.—to Mr. Mikaelson—who had taken to staring at Tyler, "next Friday?"

Mr. Mikaelson nodded absently, moving his focus to her. "Yeah," he said quietly, sending a rush through Caroline. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Who, Tyler?" Caroline asked, surprised the question even came out Mikaelson's mouth. Was he allowed to ask her questions like that? She didn't think so. And was it her, or was there a slight stiffness in his tone?

"Yeah, Mr. Lockwood."

Caroline looked over Mr. Mikaelson's shoulder at the quarterback's I-Could-Be-An-Abercrombie-Model face. She contemplated not giving an answer, but for some reason couldn't help herself from saying, "No, he isn't."

Without waiting to see his reaction, Caroline stepped around Mr. Mikaelson and walked to Tyler. As she grabbed his arm and dragged him away, she could have sworn she felt someone's eyes burning a hole through the back of her shirt.

Tuesday's government class was going to be fun.

 **—**

Tyler drove like Caroline knew he would. Carelessly, dangerously, and with his eyes skating over her every few seconds. When she'd asked him earlier in the day to drive her home, she had been expecting this electrical current to be flowing between them the entire ride. She certainly felt the beginnings of it when he had said yes. But it seemed dead now, which confused the young cheerleader.

It could have been the horrid music playing. Thumping, but in a really bad way. Loud, also in a bad way. And the lyrics were atrocious. They made no sense whatsoever, and Caroline liked to think of herself as an expert on analysing song lyrics.

Then again, it could be the hand firmly secured to her knee that seemed to only be inching its way up her thigh.

Caroline crossed her legs, causing Tyler's hand to drop, and moved closer to the car door. "So, who's this?"

"Who's who?" Tyler asked, swerving to avoid a little boy playing at the side of the road.

"The band."

"Oh, these cool local guys I saw at the Grill a while back," Tyler explained, nodding his head to the thoughtless, incessant beat. "You like 'em?"

Caroline wanted to blurt _no_ , but she was determined to make Tyler like her, so she said, "Sure," in a probably very unconvincing way. Tyler seemed to take it though, and continued bobbing his head and even took to tapping the steering wheel.

Finally, but not before two more of the band's songs came on, making Caroline want to throw caution to the wind and jump out of the moving car, Tyler pulled up to her empty house. Caroline quickly unbuckled and picked up her bag, unsure of how to process the sudden change in how she viewed Tyler. The qualities that once made her knees week—the way he ruffled his hair, his smile—now made her cringe.

She'd been crushing on the quarterback since freshman year. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Where are you going?" Tyler asked when she'd pulled the door handle toward her.

Caroline blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Tyler killed the engine, a very odd expression painting his face—smirk, eyebrows planted at his hairline, head tilted down. Was he trying to look flirtatious? Sexy? Caroline couldn't quite figure it out. Was he in pain? It kind of looked like he was in pain.

"Tyler, are you okay?" she asked, though all she really wanted to do was fly into her house and forget this horrible car ride ever happened.

Tyler's face didn't move, he just creepily nodded his head. Very slowly.

Oh, God, what if he was having a stroke? She didn't know what to do when someone was having a stroke!

Wait, no, she did. They covered it during her most recent CPR certification class. She was supposed to stay completely clam, call 911, and refrain from feeding him anything.

It didn't take Caroline very long to realise Tyler wasn't in dire need of medical attention. In the seconds following his strange facial expression Tyler reached over and grabbed Caroline's face, puckering his lips in a way that told Caroline he hadn't agreed to take her home purely to be helpful.

"Ugh!" Caroline thundered in disgust, pressing her hands flat against Tyler's chest and pushing as hard as she could.

Tyler flew back against his door, his head slamming into the window. He shrieked in pain. "What the _fuck_?"

"Are you kidding me right now? Seriously, Tyler?" Caroline swiped at her mouth even though there had been no lip-on-lip action. She glared at him, and he glared back at her. "I didn't ask you to drive me home so you could sexually assault me! God, what is _wrong_ with you?"

"I thought you wanted this!" Tyler shouted, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. Satisfaction raced through Caroline at the sight. "You've been flirting with me forever. You touch me whenever I'm near you. I know you like me!"

Tyler's words hit Caroline squarely in the chest. True, she had definitely been crushing hard on the quarterback for a long time now, and yeah, she didn't exactly know why the thought of him kissing her absolutely repulsed her all of a sudden, but he definitely went about this the wrong way.

As soon as she was done verbally tearing him to bits, Caroline had plans to go inside and rip out all of her diary entries that were dedicated to Tyler Lockwood. And to burn the jersey he had given her not too long ago after the Timberwolves won their homecoming game.

"You asshole!" Caroline shrieked. "What the hell makes you think I wanted you to pounce on me? In the fucking _car_ of all places? I'm not that kind of girl, Tyler, and it makes me sick to think that the only reason you took me home was because you hoped you'd get lucky. And, God! Just because I maybe flirted with you does not give you permission to grope me without talking to me about it first! You have a mouth, and it wasn't put on your face for the sole purpose of making out with girls. I'll get someone else to drive me home the next time my car's out of service, thank you very much. You can go die friendless and alone now."

Caroline huffed angrily and opened the car door, escaping as fast as she could before slamming the door shut so hard it made Tyler jump. She caught sight of his confused, irritated expression as he started up the car and zoomed off, nearly hitting a biker who flipped him off, and ran into the house feeling rather smug.

The smug feeling didn't last long. As Caroline sat at her desk to finish her homework for the weekend two days early, as she always did, she realised that something major had shifted in her universe. Tyler Lockwood, despite years of being head over heels for him, had not made her heart flutter, even when they were stuck in the enclosed space that was his very unkept car. He had tried to kiss her, and she had pushed him away. Granted, that wasn't exactly how she imagined kissing Tyler for the first time, but there was no regret storming around inside of her. She was _glad_ she'd shoved him off of her.

Caroline dropped her pencil on her desk and closed her books. Her brain hurt too much to do homework at the moment. Things had changed dramatically from that morning, and not in a good way. In a way she couldn't even begin to comprehend. Her crush for years had become repulsive in the span of a few minutes, she actually had a _good time_ with freaking T.A., and she found herself feeling _excited_ of all things about seeing him again on Tuesday.

Something was not right.

Pushing her chair out from underneath her desk, Caroline got to her feet and silently walked to her full-length, white-bordered mirror, inspecting her reflection closely. While the skin beneath her blue eyes was slightly more purple than usual, nothing seemed to be amiss. Nothing physical, at least. She pulled at her face in frustration and moved to sit on her bed. Leaning to her bedside table, she clicked Play on her iPod dock. The Doors blasted through her room as she lay back and closed her eyes, a toxic mix of unease and exhilaration coursing inside of her.

* * *

She had been wrong. Government class was still tough. T.A. (calling him Mr. Mikaelson still felt weird, even when done in her head) basically ignored her the entire hour and a half. Which she was completely fine with. More than fine, if she was being honest with herself. They could have their fun during their after school sessions and go back to biting each other in the neck in school. She kind of liked it, though she had to admit it threw off her groove slightly.

They were on their fourth and final preparation meeting. Next Monday, _Mr_. _Mikaelson_ would stand in front of their entire class—and the many classes before them—and deliver the best lecture Mystic Falls High School had ever heard. And it was all thanks to her.

She would never say it to his face, but she was rather excited to hear their final draft read out loud in front of the class. Students at Mystic Falls High were not known for their intelligence (football was all the rage, and considering her recent encounter with the star footballer, Caroline could think nothing but _gag_ ), but every now and again there would be an attractive—not that Tanner's T.A. was what she would consider "attractive"—who bounced with information and naivety, and everyone would fall over themselves to listen to what they had to say. They would suck up the lessons, burn them into their brains.

Caroline had a feeling Mr. Mikaelson would have no problem getting the entire school to listen to him talk about civil disobedience.

"You're early."

Caroline, who had been lazing on one of the picnic benches while waiting for T.A. to show up, straightened and turned her head, watching as Mr. Mikaelson, dressed in navy blue slacks and a pale grey dress shirt, walked toward her, his messenger bag hanging off of his shoulder.

She smirked as he sat down across from her, noticing his scruffy face and tired eyes. "I just wanted to beat you here. I think I've officially won now."

During their first session, Mr. Mikaelson had commented on her early arrival. Following a few moments of bickering they decided to make it a contest: Who could show up the earliest for their meetings. Today, Caroline had cut class five minutes early in order to beat the smug bastard that was her government teacher's T.A. There was no set prize, just simple satisfaction. And boy was she satisfied.

"Yeah, yeah," T.A. brushed off, smiling slightly at her. "You're the best and yadda, yadda, yadda."

Unbidden, Caroline's heart picked up in speed. "Do I get anything? Or just your praise? Because while I think just your praise is enough, I kinda really want something to commemorate this win."

Caroline was suddenly thankful her mother had placed her in acting lessons after her father passed away. They taught her how to pretend she wasn't nervous when she really was.

Mr. Mikaelson wrote something in his notebook before looking at her, his dopey half-smile dancing like fire across his lips. "I'll give you a raving review to Will—Mr. Tanner. Get you that A you're dying for."

Heat rose to the surface of Caroline's cheeks and chest. His smile seemed to do that to her, annoyingly enough. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome, Caroline. Now, let's get this bad boy finished." T.A. began spouting off bits from his lecture, and Caroline forced herself to actually listen to him rather than focus solely on his voice.

She was so utterly and completely screwed.

 **—**

They were finished. T.A. was busy packing up his things, and Caroline couldn't help but feel . . . sad that it was all over.

The blond shook her head discreetly, her waves smacking her in the face. She couldn't be sad. It wasn't right. He was older than her by six years. He was her teacher's assistant. Being sad they were no longer allowed to spend time with each other outside of class (because they really, really weren't allowed to, it was practically against the law) was silly. She was so used to not prescribing to the typical female hormonally driven emotions, but Mr. Mikaelson seemed to bring out the bimbo in her. More so than even Tyler Lockwood.

Funny how she used to hate Tanner's T.A. and now she couldn't get enough of him. Damn Bonnie and her stupid _you should totally have a sordid love affair with our T.A. How crazy would that be!_ idea.

Feelings like this were frowned upon. And it wasn't as if he even felt the same way.

Though there were the lingering glances she had to take into account, where his blue as blue eyes seemed to glue themselves to her face. And the rare times his leg brushed against hers and sent an army of goosebumps stomping up her skin. And the fact that he laughed at all of her sarcastic, dry jokes when nobody else did.

But, then again, he was English. Wasn't all of their humour dry and sarcastic? That was probably it, she decided. She simply reminded him of his home country.

Although she often caught him smiling at her when he though she wasn't looking, something she only knew because whenever she did catch him smiling at her, all of the hair coating her skin stood on-end.

 _No, bad Caroline_ , she chastised internally.

Bad Caroline indeed.

She was being such an idiot.

"Well," T.A. said, startling her. She has to refrain from clutching her chest. T.A. was now standing, bag slung over his shoulder. "This has been an experience."

He held out his hand, obviously wanting her to take it, but she could not bring herself to move. One million thoughts were storming around in her poor head, all of them to do with the almost-teacher standing before her. She didn't want him to go. She didn't want this to be their last one-on-one meeting.

She didn't want to spend the next month and a bit staring at him over a desk and then never see him again.

She wanted him.

"Caroline?"

T.A. was bent slightly forward, hand no longer outstretched. Caroline registered that he looked concerned. His eyebrows were furrowed, causing a crease—a beautiful crease—to form above his nose, and his lips were pursed.

His lips. God, his lips.

Caroline wasn't impulsive. She was anything but, in fact. Everything she did and said were thoroughly thought out and planned beforehand, otherwise she ended up looking like a fool. But standing there with T.A. so close to her—she lost her mind.

Without thinking about the consequences, without even realising there would be consequences, Caroline tilted her head upwards and captured Mr. Mikaelson's lips in a searing kiss. Her arms automatically coiled around his neck, her fingers bunched in his untamed curls.

Sugar. He tasted like sugar. As her lips swayed with his she swore she tasted pure sugar in his mouth.

When Mr. Mikaelson grabbed her waist to pull her closer, Caroline knew she had really won, and this was most definitely her prize. He was kissing her back with a fervour that matched her own, pressing their bellies together in a way that made Caroline the type of dizzy she had only ever read about in books.

Everything felt like it was falling perfectly into place. Like they were built for this, put on earth only to be with each other. She wasn't much one for fate, but kissing T.A. was making her rethink the idea of destiny.

"Wait, Caroline," T.A. mumbled onto her tongue, moving his hands up to her shoulders and pulling away from her.

One look at his dismayed face—swollen lips downturned, eyes glossed over with shame—and Caroline knew she had just made the single biggest mistake of her entire existence.

"Oh, God," she rasped. She placed a hand over her mouth. "I—I'm so sorry."

Tears spilled from their ducts, threatening to overflow. Silently and quickly, Caroline bent to grab her bag, turned on her heel and ran off, skidding to a stop when she reached her car. Once inside, she buried her face in her hands and cried until her eyes were dry.

* * *

 **A/N 2:** What did you guys think?

Until next time,

LoveIsATemple


	2. Part Two

**A/N:** And so we come to the end. I hope you all enjoy this final part, and that it was worth the wait. Thank you so much for reading this story! I am blown away each time I upload something here. You are all amazing!

Again, thank you to the Police for writing this perfect song.

* * *

 _"It's no use,_

 _He sees her."_

* * *

 **Part Two**

Homeroom was completely silent when Caroline rushed in nearly five minutes after the late bell had rung. It made sense that on the day when valedictorian was being announced her car would refuse to start. Just another bout of bad luck after the _incident_ that would never be named. Every face inside Ms. Lucas's English class turned up from their free-writing exercise and toward her as she scraped her chair from beneath her desk and sat down. She had never been late before. She supposed it was understandable her tardiness would attract extra attention.

Caroline sunk low in her chair, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"So nice of you to join us, Miss Forbes," Ms. Lucas hummed, approaching Caroline's desk. The older woman smelled of cheap perfume and looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Or maybe even years. She was one of the two teachers Caroline had ever studied under that outwardly disliked her. Of course, she couldn't exactly deny Caroline was smarter than basically all of her students combined, but that didn't mean Lucas had to enjoy her presence. It just meant she had to give Caroline the As she deserved. However unwilling.

Reaching into her English binder, Caroline pulled a blue slip from its pocket and handed it to Ms. Lucas. "Sorry, Ms. Lucas. Car trouble." Thankfully, the lady at the front desk—Mrs. Meyers—adored Caroline. Getting a tardy pass was easy.

Lucas took the paper and studied it, even taking the time to hold it up to the light as if Caroline had handed her a one-thousand dollar bill and she was checking its validity.

"Mmm," Lucas mumbled, folding the paper and shooting the cheerleader one last glare before returning to her desk. Obviously she found no fault with the tardy pass, a fact she was none too pleased about. "They will be announcing valedictorian soon, Miss Forbes. I hope you are prepared."

Caroline nodded. She grabbed a few pieces of blank, college-ruled lined paper from her binder and took a pencil from her backpack. "Of course I am," she said confidently, even though she wasn't confident at all.

She knew she had all As, as she should. She knew everything in her academic life was going perfectly. But something about how horribly wrong her personal life had been going lately made her doubt Principle Weber would give her the title. Tyler had been steadily turning all of the school against her, which made things particularly difficult. The only people she really could talk to were Bonnie and Matt, and she didn't have any classes with either of them. And then, of course, there was the problem with her love life. Government class had not been the same since that fateful Friday two weeks ago.

The speaker up on the wall inside Ms. Lucas's classroom buzzed. Everyone dropped their pencils in anticipation of the announcement. Even Ms. Lucas looked genuinely interested, her wrinkled face pulled into an awkward smile.

Caroline's heart thudded painfully in her chest. She hadn't realised how nervous she was before, but now that she was less than one minute away from finding out if she had achieved the goal she had been striving for since she could walk, she could barely find it within herself to breathe.

"Ladies and gentleman of Mystic Falls High, I have a special announcement for you all today," came Mr. Weber's crackly voice over the intercom system. Caroline rolled her stiff neck, her nerves jumping. "2013 graduating seniors, are you ready to hear who your valedictorian is?"

Caroline didn't know what Mr. Weber expected, but nobody said anything. Students were either too bored or too excited/nervous to speak.

"Well, you're going to find out anyway," he flamed, a darkness to his voice Caroline had not heard before. His bitter statement caused a few people in English to snicker. "All right, here we go. Your valedictorian for 2013 is . . . Caroline Forbes. Congratulations, I look forward to hearing your speech. Have a good day everyone."

Speechless. She was literally speechless. Caroline Forbes, queen of always having something to say, was completely and utterly tongue-tied.

There were a few whoops from inside homeroom, but most of her classmates stayed silent. Ms. Lucas took no time to congratulate her, which she didn't mind one bit, and started to discuss the terms for their final paper on _Anna Karenina_.

Later on, Caroline would need to ask one of her fellow pupils what Ms. Lucas had said about the essay, as her ears had closed for the final fifty minutes of class time.

 _Finally_ , she thought to herself as she tried to stop herself from crying in the middle of English, _finally_.

 **—**

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

"Thanks, Elena." Caroline mustered up as much enthusiasm as she could for the brunette who had attacked her by her locker. The brand spanking new valedictorian assumed that since she and Damon Salvatore were no longer together, Elena Gilbert had forced herself to be happy for his adversary.

Elena tightened her arms around Caroline's shoulders and swung them both back and forth for a moment before letting go. Her brown eyes were bright and her smile genuine, but she was a fake and champion liar. Everybody knew it. You couldn't take her enthusiasm seriously, because behind those innocent eyes was a diabolical brain chock-full with snide remarks and bitter resentment for people she deemed beneath her. Which was essentially everybody at the school.

"I'm glad it was you," Elena said firmly, squeezing Caroline's arms. She nodded once and ran off.

Caroline laughed to herself, feeding her English books to their respective shelf inside her locker and grabbing the texts for her next two classes. In two months she wouldn't have to see any of these people again if she didn't want to, and that made her unbelievably happy. As much fun as climbing to the top of the social ladder had been her four years at this school, if the last two weeks had taught her anything, it was that high school didn't matter in the long run.

She was only glad she had discovered this now instead of thirty years down the line.

Caroline closed her locker, jumping back when behind the door stood none other than Damon Salvatore.

He was like a demon, popping up all over the place wearing his all-black clothes. Except instead of needing potions and spells, you summoned him by merely thinking his name.

"Well, well, well," he said, leaning against the locker next to hers. They had five more minutes until the bell rang. Caroline hoped he would be quick with his snarky comments. "You beat me."

Caroline fluttered her eyelashes. "Was it ever really a competition?"

Damon's lip curled into a snarl. He really was an ugly bastard. Caroline was almost certain Elena only dated him through high school to piss off her rich socialite parents. Now those four years were nearly up, and Elena didn't need Damon anymore to make her parents angry. She was doing that just fine by herself in her refusal to go to university.

Poor, poor Damon.

"I'd like to think it was, seeing as you got two Bs in Tanner's US Government class this year. However did you manage to bump up your grade so close to the end of term?"

"Plusses. B Plusses," Caroline corrected without thinking. "What the hell are you implying, Damon?"

Damon shrugged. "I'm not implying anything, Blondie. I'm telling you that it doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. I asked Tanner to give me some extra credit assignments to get my grade to an A. He gave me one, I completed it to full satisfaction, and now I have an A," she explained.

"Right." Damon smiled. "I'll bet you completed it to _full satisfaction_."

It suddenly dawned on Caroline what Damon was insinuating. Her face scrunched. "Are you fucking kidding me? You think I . . ." Caroline couldn't even finish her sentence. The implication was too dirty. "How dare you. How fucking dare you. I _earned_ my grade."

"Hey, whatever you say. I'll just go tell Tyler he was wrong." The tall asshole interrupting her celebratory mood held up his hands and started walking away. "Congratulations."

Caroline stood there, motionless, for a few seconds, allowing Damon's words to sink into her skin.

Fucking Tyler Lockwood. She thought he was a little better than _that_ , but teenage boys did funny, destructive things when they felt rejected. All she could do was hope Damon was the only one to take Tyler's words as truth. Her classmates may have decided they didn't like her as much over the past couple of weeks, but she was positive they were smarter than to believe such an outrageous rumour.

She did earn her grade, and not through sexual favour. She spent an entire month sitting with an obnoxious man she despised wholeheartedly. Even after their last session, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named went to Mr. Tanner and gave her a rave enough review to get her the A she needed.

And now she was valedictorian. Nobody could stomp out her fire. Not even Damon Salvatore. Not even _him_.

—

Caroline sluggishly walked into Tanner's classroom. Today, it seemed her fellow seniors decided they liked her again. She could not go two feet without someone else saying how proud of her they were, or how pleased they were. It was sickening how fake their admiration and acceptance was. It was almost more sickening how long she had strived for it, though. High school was weeks away from finishing, and Caroline Forbes was counting down the days, ready to strip herself of the four years she had spent here.

"Caroline!" Mr. Tanner exclaimed when he spotted Caroline crawling into her regular desk at the front of the room. "How does it feel to be the smartest person in this school?"

Laughing, Caroline shrugged. "I wouldn't know, Mr. Tanner. Surely that title belongs to you."

"Nonsense. Tell her, Mr. Mikaelson," Tanner said, calling over the one man Caroline really didn't want to see. Tanner smiled down at Caroline. "When you were helping him with his lecture, he would go on and on about how brilliant you are. Isn't that right, Mikaelson?"

"Yes, sir."

The air fell from Caroline's lungs in one big whoosh when his voice hit her ears. Every class it was the same—she would try to avoid looking at him, hearing him, and then he would somehow manage to get right in front of her face.

She felt like crying all over again. What was he doing saying she was brilliant? Toying with her feeble emotions? Well, he would be sadly disappointed to learn she had grown quite the thick skin over the years, beginning with the day someone told her she was bound to end up like her drunken father when she was only seven.

Since the _incident_ with Tanner's You-Know-What, she had done a good job of keeping a low profile in government. Tanner would still call on her when her hand was raised, but she only raised it on instinct. She had even skipped class the day _that_ _man_ spoke to the class all by himself, telling her mother her cramps were especially bad.

She heard from other students that his lecture went well. That there was a perfect mix of everything in it, and they all felt they could confidently discuss civil disobedience even after such a short time studying it in depth. She supposed she had something to do with how good his lesson turned out, but she was done being vain. Those days were over now. Real life was about to start, and for the first time she felt honestly ready for it. She could reinvent herself. Finally.

Tanner clapped his hands, sharply pulling Caroline from her reverie. "Okay, let's get this class started. I know you're almost done with high school, but that doesn't mean we don't still have a few things to cover until the final next week."

And so began another lecture. Caroline took her usual diligent notes, keeping her writing small and her bullet points perfect circles. Their final was one week away, and though she was sure she would pass with flying colours even without studying, it never hurt to have extra notes. Just in case.

At the one hour and twenty minute mark, Tanner finished lecturing. "You can all put your books away, but I have a very big announcement to make," the old man said quietly, a sadness infused in his words.

Caroline stilled. Was he _dying_? Did he only have one month to live, and wouldn't be here to see her give her valedictorian speech?

 _Stop being so stupid, Caroline. He's not dying_ , she told herself, but she still didn't unclench her fists.

Tanner stood in the centre of the classroom, right in front of the blackboard, and smiled wistfully. "I've been teaching at this school for twenty five years. I've been here longer than you all have been alive. I probably taught your parents, your sisters and brothers. These years have been wonderful to me. I've met so many amazing people," he said, staring directly at Caroline. The cheerleader felt a blush glide across her cheeks. "But it's time for me to retire, effective at the end of this school year."

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't dying.

"Now, I'm sure you all have enjoyed having Mr. Mikaelson as our T.A. this year, yes?" Tanner continued, throwing his hand toward the back of the room where Caroline was sure _he_ stood, all noble and British and shit. _Bastard_. Caroline's classmates clapped their hands together, and she swore one person whooped. "Good, because he is my replacement."

Of course he was. _Of course he was_. Caroline refused to turn around with her fellow pupils, keeping her head straight, eyes planted on the blackboard.

Good for him. He deserved it. He was a smart man, she had always known that.

Good for him.

And good for her, too. She was leaving Mystic Falls soon and wouldn't have to deal with him being the hot new teacher all the girls swooned over. She could go off to university and meet a good college boy who wouldn't potentially get fired for making out with her.

 **—**

As usual, Bonnie and Caroline were the final two left after cheer practice finished. They stood in front of the two mirrors in the girl's locker room doing their makeup. Caroline couldn't wait to get out of there and bury her head beneath her pillow the moment she got home, but she was determined to look pretty whilst spiralling into a state of eternal depression.

"I heard Mr. Mikaelson got Tanner's position. That's exciting, isn't it?" Bonnie asked, oblivious to Caroline's Don't-Talk-To-Me demeanour.

No, Caroline did not think it was _exciting_. She thought it was stupid. Why couldn't he go off to another city and work there? Why did he have to infiltrate _her_ home town. Escaping to university wouldn't save her for very long, a fact she had annoyingly grasped since the announcement. She would have to come home sometime, to do laundry and say hi to her mother.

Caroline rolled a mascara wand over her eyelashes until they were coated entirely in black before she regained her composure enough to speak. "I think they could've found someone more qualified. He's only been a T.A. for a year. Tanner only let him teach one class by himself. What if he can't handle it? I mean, he needed me to help him four freaking times so he could write up his lecture on civil disobedience."

"Hey, I heard that was a great lecture."

"Yeah, because I helped him."

"Alright, rockstar. Doesn't he have a BA and a Masters? From Mason and UVA?" Bon asked, finishing up her hair.

"So?"

Laughing at Caroline's indignation, Bonnie started clearing away all of her things. "Well, you spent hours working one on one with him," Bonnie said, "did he not prove how smart he was during those meetings?"

Of course he did. That man was the smartest man aside from Mr. Tanner himself Caroline had come across in her eighteen years of being alive. His brain was full of random, odd facts about the strangest, most fascinating things. Each week, she found herself growing more and more excited to see him, to listen to him talk about all of those amazing things. Even his accent had started growing on her.

But she ruined it when she tried to kiss him. When she stupidly let her haywire emotions get the better of her.

She still knew he was a genius. But admitting it felt like admitting _she_ was an idiot.

"Whatever, Caroline. You don't have to answer," Bonnie sighed, stranding to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow for graduation dress shopping, Miss Valedictorian."

Caroline nodded, still unable to believe she had been chosen for the position. Her mother would be so proud. "Yeah, I'll pick you up around midday."

Caroline finished her makeup in silence. Once she was done, she smoothed out her baby pink dress and headed for the parking lot, a burst of loud thunder assaulting her ears as she neared the doors.

 **—**

Matt was bent over her car when she reached the lot. His blond hair was shaded black from grease. Years ago she would have found this sight hilarious, but right now she just wanted to go home.

"Howdy," Caroline called upon approaching her friend. "How's it looking in there?"

Matt straightened, showing Caroline the grease stains were not localised on top of his head. His poor white shirt was practically dripping with the stuff. "Looking better now. Just a few tweaks. It'll be running like new," Matt said, shutting the bonnet carefully.

Flinging her arms wide, Caroline came dangerously close to hugging Matt's sweaty, greased-up body. She backed away and dropped her arms, instead holding out her dainty hand for Matt to shake. Smiling, the boy wiped his hand on his trusty rag, getting rid of most of the grease and oil, before taking the offer.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she sang happily. "I should totally pay you. You fix my car more than I drive him."

Matt's eyebrow raised. "And the truth comes out. Caroline Forbes's car is a male. No wonder you won't put him out of his misery and get a new one."

"Hey," Caroline chastised, lightly slapping Matt's shoulder. "He has been mine since I learned how to drive. And he was incredibly cheap, mostly because of how old he is. But that's besides the point. You know what, I won't pay you now."

"Don't fret about it, Caroline. I couldn't take your money anyway. I like fixing your car."

Another spark of thunder tumbled through the sky. A grey sheen blanketed the school parking lot.

"Thank you," Caroline said again. "I think we should get out of here before we get caught in the rain."

Matt packed away his tools. "Right. I'll see you later, Care."

"See you, Matt."

Caroline quickly got into her car, trying her best to _not_ remember what happened last time she was stuck in the middle of a downpour. At least this time her car was working. No threat of _him_ finding her again.

Taking some time to find the right disc to play, Caroline barely registered when the rain finally started, only noticing once the Who were already leaking from her speakers. She peered out her front windshield for any sign of Matt, but couldn't see him. She hoped he'd already gotten into his car and driven off.

Caroline turned the key in the ignition, smiling when her car started without any trouble. Matt would make millions as a mechanic one day. With her windscreen wipers going at full speed, Caroline reversed out of her spot, driving through the parking lot happily before slamming hard on her breaks when something came on to the road in front of her.

Her body slammed back into the seat, her heart drastically picking up in speed.

It was a person, she realised after squinting through the rain. A person waving their hands around.

 _Oh, God_ , she thought suddenly. _This is how I die_.

It was a serial killer. She just knew it. A serial killer who waited for young girls to leave the parking lot before striking them dead with a machete.

Caroline gripped the steering wheel tightly. She could merely go around the person who was trying to gain her attention. Or, go right through them.

The figure moved closer to her car, and the closer it got, the less scared Caroline was. Well, no. She was still scared, but not because she thought there was a killer on the loose. She was scared because the person walking toward her was fucking Mr. Mikaelson.

All of her life, her mother had taught her to be the bigger person. To rise above what other people thought of her, to prove them wrong. Mr. Mikaelson must have thought she was a silly little girl incapable of maturity, so she decided to show him just how mature she could be.

Caroline rolled down her window, immediately regretting her decision to be noble when rain spat harshly against her face. "Need a ride?" she called, observing the drenched T.A. His Oxford shirt was sticking deliciously to his body.

Mr. Mikaelson didn't respond right away, which aggravated her.

"Dude," she cried, "I'm soaking myself just to offer you a ride, which you clearly need. Get in."

Rolling her window back up, Caroline decided that if he did not enter her passenger side in the next thirty seconds, she was driving off without looking back. The door opened at second twenty-seven.

"Thank you," he said politely, dripping water all over her not-leather interior. "My car's not starting."

"Sure."

Caroline lifted her foot off of the break pedal and drove out of the parking lot without daring to look at the man sitting next to her. Her entire body was heated despite the air conditioning blasting through the vents, and she had the strangest inkling it had nothing to do with the humidity.

How perfect was this? Sitting beside the man who had managed to worm his sneaky, British way into her heart before ripping the damn thing from her chest.

She knew she couldn't blame him for it. He was her almost-teacher. It _was_ illegal. But none of the facts made it hurt any less.

Her whole life had been her trying to make it to the top. Boys didn't matter in her world. They were playthings. Distractions only good for when she aced exams. And then came along the sarcastic government T.A. who somehow tore through all of her walls without her even realising it was happening.

She was a walking, talking high school girl cliché. They could write books about her.

"You didn't have to give me a ride," he said after a few glorious minutes of silence.

"Oh, no, of course I did," she responded drily. "I'm the sheriff's kid. I couldn't leave you out there and not have the guilt eat away at me until I just gave up and died."

"You don't even know where you're taking me," he mentioned.

Caroline glanced at the street sign nearest her. Great. She was taking him to her house.

"Right, sorry. Where do you live?" she asked, heading for the closest gas station in case she needed to turn around.

Why had he let her drive this long without mentioning where he lived? They left the parking lot at least five minutes ago.

This was torture. Pure torture. Her insides were twisting on themselves in sheer agony.

Caroline pulled into the empty gas station and bravely turned her head. Her eyes caught T.A.'s instantly, their blue-green shade glowing in the grey fog filling her car.

"Well?" she coughed.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Sorry? Because you don't know where you live?"

Leave it to her to be sarcastic when he was obviously trying to be serious. She mentally slapped herself.

T.A. shook his head. Water droplets flung around his head, and her poor hands yearned to run through his sobbing curls.

"No," he said honestly, firmly, "no, I'm sorry for how I reacted that day."

 _That day_. _How ominous sounding_ , she thought.

"I admit I was caught off guard, but"—

—"Please, you don't have to say anything," Caroline begged. "I already feel awful about what happened. I was being stupid. We can forget about it."

"Behind Blue Eyes" had just started playing, adding some gothic effect to the situation.

"That's the thing, Caroline," T.A. said urgently, unbuckling himself in order to turn his whole body in her direction. He grabbed her hands, shocking her sleeping body awake. "I don't want to just forget about it."

She felt strangely like she had been cast in a movie without realising it, and was completely unaware they had started rolling. This didn't happen in real life. These kinds of 'i don't want to forget about it' speeches were designated to crappy romance novels and bad films people lied about hating.

"What are you saying?" Caroline asked, knowing this was her next line.

T.A. bowed his head for a moment, his beautiful mouth pulling, stretching, into a smile full to the brim with bewilderment. "I'm saying that you're not alone. Caroline Forbes, I am saying that I have had to pretend I'm not attracted to you for the past few months. When Tanner paired us together, I was so worried I wasn't going to be able to control the impulse to kiss you."

This wasn't fair. This really, really wasn't fair. He was throwing all of these words at her pitiful brain. She could barely think straight.

"But you hate me," she found herself saying, her words trickling slowly from her tongue.

T.A. adamantly shook his head. "No, I don't," he insisted. "It was a defence mechanism, because I knew how much trouble I would get in if I was caught falling for a student. If anything, _you_ are the one who hates _me_."

"I thought I did. I thought I hated you. It should be fairly obvious I don't hate you anymore."

She didn't know why was admitting these things. Maybe it was because she was graduating soon, and why carry this weight around at university when it could be released right now? Or perhaps she was simply tired of hiding.

"But it's not like we can do anything about it," she said. "You're still the T.A. I'm going to college soon. There's no winning side."

T.A.'s thumbs traced small circles over the backs of her hands, sending small shivers down her spine. Her skin exploded with goosebumps.

"UVA isn't far. It's a thirty minute drive from Mystic Falls," he was saying, like he was actually trying to make this work. "Thirty minutes is nothing."

"You're serious? You're actually considering this?" she asked. "What if it turns out this is nothing more than infatuation? Maybe you'll decide you don't like me once you finally have me. Maybe _I'll_ decide I don't like you."

His thumbs ceased their entrancing movements, but he refused to let go of her hands. "And what if it turns out to be more?" he challenged.

Caroline closed her eyes. "It can't be. You'd be fired."

Releasing her hands, T.A. reached out to grab her face, placing two strong hands on either side. He smelled like the woods, like pine needles and (oh, God, she was so pathetic) fucking _sunshine_. Caroline slowly opened her eyes again, her breath dissolving in her lungs when she realised how close he was to her.

"Not if we wait to tell people until you've graduated."

"This feels wrong. I like you, I do, but there's no way we get out of this alive."

T.A. smirked, the right side of his face lifting gloriously. "You'd be surprised how much these people wouldn't care. Remember when that student a couple of years ago ran off with her former gym teacher to elope? They returned two weeks later and nobody aside from her parents were upset. And even they eventually got over it."

"You weren't even here for that. The rumours that spread around the school after she disappeared . . ."

"Hey," T.A. said, smoothing those calloused thumbs over her cheeks, "then we'll wait for a little longer. We'll wait until you come home for Christmas, pretend we got chatting at the coffee shop in town."

Caroline couldn't stop the giggle that fell from her throat. "You have a whole arsenal of plans, don't you?"

"I have been thinking about this for a while. I was planning on 'accidentally' bumping into you at your mum's house when you were home from university at some point before we started working together on the lecture."

Caroline sucked in a deep breath, quietly and slowly exhaling as "Behind Blue Eyes" came to an end. "You've liked me for a long time?"

"Ever since you got at me for spelling analyse with an _s_ one month into school."

"Okay," Caroline breathed. "I was eighteen then. That's good."

T.A. dropped his hands and threw his head back with a laugh. "That's what you're concerned about? Your age? I'm six years older than you, not sixty."

"So? It's what people will focus on, Mikaelson. That, and the fact that my dad's dead. They'll think I have daddy issues, or something. That's good, though. It's good that I was eighteen."

T.A. rested his head against the seat, turning his neck to face her. "Nobody will know, Caroline. Do you want this? Is that why you're finding so many excuses? Because you're not sure about it?"

"No, no," she murmured, staring at Mikaelson's chest. "I'm just—this is all happening so fast. I like you, I do, I just don't know what to do with that yet."

"Well, we can start by having you call me Klaus," he suggested.

Hearing his first name made her toes curl inexplicably. Tyler never made her feel this way. "Klaus," she whispered, the word feeling foreign—beautiful—on her lips. "I like that."

T.A.— _Klaus—_ inched closer to Caroline. She was bathing in the electricity filling her car, in the blistering heat radiating from both of their bodies. She felt warm and wanted and wonderful. She could do this, she decided. She could pretend for a few months not to be attracted to this man. Hell, she managed to trick _herself_ for seven fucking months. This should be easy.

"Okay," she said, a hint of finality lingering in her voice. "Okay."

Klaus's mouth was hovering over hers now. She was done, she remembered, being the teenaged fool obsessed with how others saw her. For once, she would do something simply because she wanted to. Quickly unbuckling herself, Caroline launched her arms around Klaus's soaking shoulders, collapsing her lips onto his.

She kissed him with a ferocity she hadn't known was inside of her. Kissed him until her lips were raw and her skin was painted pink. Until they were a mess of gasps and tongues.

When they broke apart, the rain had stopped and Caroline's mouth was so swollen it hurt to smile.

"So, where do you live?" she asked once her breathing calmed, strapping herself back in.

Klaus informed her of his address and she took off, the sounds of "Baba O'Riley" brushing their ears as they drove through the darkened sky.

* * *

"I've got a plain coffee, medium, for Caroline."

Caroline bounced toward the counter and took her drink from the barista. "Thanks," she said genuinely before returning to her seat.

She sipped the hot coffee happily, glad to be home for Christmas. Mystic Falls was covered in a light blanket of snow, its citizens wrapped tight in their winter coats. She loved this time of year best. Nothing beat Christmas time.

The bell strapped to the door rang, signalling the arrival of another customer. Caroline ignored the urge to see who had entered. Instead, she moved her attention to the textbook splayed in front of her.

"I thought classes didn't start for another month," came a male voice from behind her.

Adrenaline shot through Caroline's bloodstream as if it had been injected straight into her veins. Calmly, she replied, "Three weeks, actually."

"Ah," the voice said. "Can I sit?"

Caroline bobbed her head, trying her best to hide her smile. It wasn't working well.

Klaus shifted the chair in front of her and sat down, not doing a thing to hide his own smile. That did it for her. She broke out into a very unflattering grin, her eyes skimming the handsomely dressed man sitting opposite her. He wore the tie she had gotten him, which did funny things to her heart.

"Hi," he greeted. "Fancy running into you here at this coffee shop."

Shutting her book, Caroline started tapping her fingers against the wooden table. "It is a small town, Mr. Mikaelson. We were bound to run into each other sooner or later."

"Thank heavens it was sooner, then," he teased. The bastard pulled his damn lips into his signature half-smile. "And please, love, I'm not your T.A. anymore. Feel free to call me Klaus."

God, he _knew_ she turned to putty when he called her that. Great, now their plan was ruined. No more hiding the relationship.

Dangerously, Klaus reached across the table's surface and took ahold of her shaking hands. Caroline's breath transformed into a startled hiccup. Touching was against the rules in public.

"Okay, then," she exhaled, a thrill running through her. "Klaus."

* * *

 **A/N 2:** There you go! What did everybody think?

Thanks for reading. I hope it ended in a way that made you all happy.

Til next time,

LoveIsATemple


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